76 . I th , I --..... ....... I t , ! s. \ ) Fred Jacobson, well known author / mountaineer. leads special hiking trips to Appenzell. Grindelwald, Kandersteg, Murren, pontre r sina, Saas- Fee, Sils Maria and Zermatt. Spectacular Swiss alpine scenery. Chal- lenging trails. Delightful inns and fine cuisine. For active outdoor people who also like their creature com- forts, Our 21st summer! For information write: Fred Jacobson, Dept. A Avos Travel, Inc. 608 Fifth Avenue New York, N.Y. 10020 800-362- 2550/212- 245-1150 ... .....' . ; , CHARLES WEBB designer I woodworker Six Story Street Cambridge, MA 02138 (617) 547-2100 t' ì ExpanSIon Sofabed from a sofa to û full-size bed " I I ,. Catalog of Designs: Four Dollars 15LAND HIDEAWAV5 E .. ... t Cari. . .. an Villas 1-80' : 32-2302 ter. About a hundred beggars were shelter- ing by the side of one of the ditches. Many of them were cripples; some were blind. The injured pilgrims, gasping for breath and clawing for a foothold on the slope, now came tumblIng down onto them. Some of the beggars were crushed to death, and some tried to flee into the wa- ter, which soon turned to a bloodied slush as more of those trapped on the ramp sought this, their only route of escape, and slid onto the screaming people below. At the foot of the ramp, where Veena and her family were trapped, people were maimed or dying. Many of the old and infirm fell to the ground. Some of them, exhausted by the long journey, had little strength to withstand the shock or the pressure of the crowd. A stu- dent, unable to move, watched helplessly as his mother was trampled to death and his father's ribs were crushed. Many people were literally squeezed to death upright against each other. Some were suffocated, some succumbed to injuries. Veena saw one old woman suddenly col- lapse, blood pouring out of her mouth. There was complete and dreadful chaos. "Bhaskar-Bhaskar-don't let go of my hand!" cried V eena, clutching him tightly. She had to gasp out every word. But they were thrust to and :&0 by the great, terrified, injured mass all around them, and she cowd feel the weight of someone's body forcing their hands apart. "No- no-" she screamed, sobbing with dread. But she felt the small hand slIp, palm first and then digit by digit, out of her own. Within fifteen minutes more than a thousand people were dead. Finally the police managed to com- municate with the railway authorities and stop the trains. They set up barriers across the approach routes to the ramp, and cleared the area below and around It. The loudspeakers started telling people to go back, not to enter the Mela grounds, not to watch the procession. They announced that the remaining contingents would not march. It was still not clear what had hap- pened. D PANKAR CHATfER]I had been among the spectators on the other side of the main route. He watched with horror the carnage that was taking place less than fifty feet away, but-wIth the nagas between him and the ramp-there was nothing he cowd do. He did not recog- THE NEW YORKER, FEBRUARY 22,1993 nize anyone on the ramp, so tightly packed was the crowd. It was a hellIsh scene, like humanity gone mad, each ele- ment indistinguishable from every other, all bent on a kind of collective suicide. Suddenly, he saw one of the younger nagas stab furiously at an old man who had, in his terror, tried to force his way through the procession to safety on the other side. The man fell, then rose again. Blood was streaming from wounds in his shoulder and back. With horror, Dipan- kar recognized him as a man whom he had met near the river, a hardy old pilgrim from Salimpur, who had been insistent upon determining the correct spot for bathing. The man tried to struggle back, but was flung down by the crowd as it surged forward again. His back, his head were crushed by the trampling feet. When the crowd next surged away from the points of the tridents, the mangled body of the old man remained, like a piece of debris washed up by the tIde. M EANWHILE, a number of V.I.P.s and army officers, who had been watching the great spectacle of the pro- cession from the ramparts of the Brahm- pur Fort, looked down in disbelief at the scene far below them. The panic began so suddenly, and the whole thing was over so quickly, that the number of mo- tionless bodies lying on the ground was unbelievable. What had happened? was what everyone asked. What arrangements had gone wrong? Who was to blame? The fort commander, without wait- Ing for a formal request, immediately sent troops down to help the police and the Mela officers. They began to clear bodies away, to take the injured to the first-aid centers, and the corpses to the Pul Mela police station. He also sug- gested immediately setting up a central control room to deal with the aftermath of the disaster-and this suggestion was accepted. The temporary telephone ex- change that had been establIshed for the Mela was taken over for this purpose. Those V.I.P.s who had wanted to bathe on this auspicious day were on a launch in the middle of the Ganges when the captain came up to them In great agitation. S. S. Sharma, the Chief Minister, and L. N. Agarwal, Home Minister, were standing side by side. The captain, holding out a pair of bin- oculars, said to the Chief Minister, "Sir-I fear there is some trouble on the ingress ramp. You might wish to take a